SEBI issues draft rules for infrastructure trusts

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Capital markets regulator Securities and Exchange board of India (SEBI) on Thursday issued draft rules for setting up infrastructure investment trusts that would allow companies to monetize their infrastructure projects.

Among the guidelines, the regulator proposed to allow infrastructure trusts to raise money either through a public issue or a private placement, with a minimum issue size of 2.5 billion rupees ($41.54 million).

SEBI has sought public comments on the draft rules by July 24. For the detailed guidelines, see http://bit.ly/1wzjUzm

India has ambitious plans to fix its creaky infrastructure which some analysts estimate would require an investment of $1 trillion over five years.

Earlier this month, finance minister Arun Jaitley had announced tax incentives for REITs and infrastructure investment trusts in his budget address to attract foreign investment for the sector.

($1 = 60.1800 rupees)

(Reporting by Himank Sharma; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)